Representative Elections in Professional Associations

Larger professional associations are often divided up into regions. Within these regions, the local membership elect board members for their local division and elect representatives for the national level. Here you can find out about the importance of regional representative elections.

The Role of Regional Representatives

The role that a regional representative plays depends largely on the structure of the Professional Association. There are two categories that representatives will fall into - either representing their constituency at an AGM or to represent their region at a board level.

AGM representatives

Representatives are elected to attend the yearly AGM and to vote on bylaw changes, new national board members and to debate any proposed amendments on behalf of their region.

Their votes can be weighted to represent the size of membership in their region, or simplified with one representative, one vote.

Regional Directors

A regional director is elected with the purpose of representing their region on a national level and ultimately becomes that region's board member. Much like any other member of the board of directors, they will oversee the management of the association, chair different committees and help dictate the future direction of the profession.

Representative Election Process

The election process of regional directors or representatives is much the same as an ordinary professional association's board election.

Candidates gather signatures or are nominated by their peers, they then run for office in a simple, majority vote. Elections are held online, via mail, in person, or a combination of these election procedures. When professional associations are choosing representatives, each member receives one vote. Successful candidates are elected using the First Past the Post method.

Representative Elections Online

We have designed our election software to be user-friendly for your election supervisors and incredibly easy for your voters to use. Not only does this reduce the time spent managing and organising your elections, it also reduces the cost and carbon footprint significantly in comparison to paper-based voting.

Election Management Process

After you have your candidates ready, simply log into the election system to get started